


Monsters

by CourtneyB



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Cute, Family, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Mischief, Romance, misadventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-18 12:11:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11874123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourtneyB/pseuds/CourtneyB
Summary: When Chi-Chi has a bad reaction to Goku's Super Sayian 3 form, what starts as a harmless game between father and son gets a bit out of hand.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a drabble I wrote for Notanotherbrickinthewall's Tumblr, but I decided to do some tweaking and turn it into a two-part fic full of Son family fun. Enjoy!

Chi-Chi paused from her gardening to wipe sweat from her brow. She was getting tired, and the stifling heat was not helping. Dark clouds loomed in the sky, a sure sign of a coming storm. Maybe it was time to go inside…

A few feet away, Goku and Goten were playing. She smiled as she watched them. How wonderful it was to see her youngest son get to know his father. It was almost as if he had never been gone these past seven years.

“Show it again, Daddy!” Goten kept saying, bouncing around his father.

“You’ve already seen it before!” Goku laughed. “But I wanna see it again! Please, please, please, please, please, please, please…”

“Okay, okay,” Goku relented. “Get ready!”

Curious, Chi-Chi got up and walked towards them, absentmindedly brushing dirt off her skirt. What were those two up to?

Before she could ask, there was an explosion of wind and light. She shrieked, shielding her eyes against the blast. She dug her heels into the ground so that she wouldn’t be knocked off her feet. As soon as the light dimmed and the earth stopped shaking, she looked back to Goku and Goten. Her mouth fell open.

Where Goku had been standing now was some… _creature_. There was no other way of describing it. The hulking frame, the elbow-length golden mane, the fierce teal eyes glaring underneath a jutting brow…everything about it was positively savage. Barely human at all.

She barely had time to register the sight before she fainted.

“Chi-Chi!”

“Momma!”

Goku and Goten hurried to her side. Goku patted her face gently. “Chi-Chi, wake up! Are you okay? Come on, honey, please wake up…”

Chi-Chi moaned as Goku helped her sit up. “I’m okay,” she said groggily, squinting at the bright light. “I don’t know what happened…I just thought I saw this horrible monster…”

Her vision slowly cleared, giving her a close-up not of her husband’s familiar face, but the face of that _thing_. Overwhelmed with horror, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped backward into Goku’s arms.

“I think Super Saiyan 3 scares her,” Goku said sheepishly.

“Yeah.” Goten couldn’t help giggling. “She didn’t like it when I turned into a Super Saiyan either…”

“Sounds about right,” Goku sighed as he hoisted his wife’s limp body off the ground. “We’d better go inside and get her some water.”

But Goten didn’t move. A shadow crossed the little boy’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Goku asked, concerned. “You don’t have to worry, she’ll be fine.”

“I know, but…” Goten bit his lip. “Does she really think we’re monsters?”

“What?” Goku was shocked. “Why would you say that?”

“She thought I was a monster when I first transformed.” He looked at the ground. “She was scared of me.”

Goku saw how much this pained his son. He understood completely how it felt. Even now, he couldn’t suppress his own twinge of hurt that Chi-Chi reacted so badly to his latest transformation. Of course, this wasn’t exactly new, but still…

He shook his head. “Your mother loves us,” he told Goten firmly. “She just doesn’t like it when we change like that. You should have seen how much she freaked the first time she saw me and Gohan as Super Saiyans.”

Goten attempted a watery smile. “You do look a little scary like that.” 

“Oh yeah?” Goku grinned playfully.

“Yeah, like those monsters in those movies.” He stared at the fragile, unconscious mother cradled in his transformed father’s huge arms. “The ones that are always kidnapping pretty girls.”

Mischief glinted in Goku’s eyes. “You wanna be _real_ monsters for a while?”

“Yeah!” Goten cheered, bouncing up and down. All traces of sadness were completely erased in his excitement for this new game. “Let’s be monsters!”

“And take this pretty girl back to our lair to be our prisoner,” Goku laughed, slinging Chi-Chi over his shoulder.

The two took off into the air, flying into the woods. Several miles ahead lay a cave where Goku used to take camping years ago. It made the perfect hideout for two monsters and their “captive.”

By the time they landed, thunder rumbled in the sky. While Goku maneuvered Chi-Chi off his shoulder and carried her bridal-style into the cave, Goten stopped to pick some of the blue wildflowers that grew just outside the entrance. He hurried inside right as rain began to fall.

The cool dark of the cave was a welcome reprieve from the day’s heat. Goku laid Chi-Chi gently on the rocky floor. Goten knelt beside her and started placing the flowers in her long black hair.

“What are you doing?” Goku asked curiously.

“She has to wear flowers because she’s a human sacrifice,” Goten replied mischievously. “Her village chose her to be the monsters’ meal.”

“But she was too pretty to eat so we’re keeping her forever instead,” Goku added, playing along.

“Yes, and now we have to guard her!” Goten announced gleefully.

The two monsters made fierce faces as they watched over the recumbent prisoner. She lay there, still and beautiful, the flowers in her hair giving her the look of a sleeping princess in a fairy tale. The sight melted their ferocious hearts.

“Oh Momma, wake up,” Goten whispered, distressed once again. “We’re not really bad monsters.”

“Well, if we were really good monsters, we’d let her go,” Goku pointed out.

“We can’t let her go! We love her!” 

“I know. But we can’t just make her live in a cave forever. She’d miss her family.”

“Her family? Oh…” Goten’s eyes widened in understanding. “I forgot all about them. They must be worried.” He pretended to sigh. “But I’ll miss her so much…”

Goku chuckled. “Well, we can wait a while. It’s getting pretty nasty out there.”

“Okay.”

Soon, Goten was zonked out next to his mother, exhausted from both playing and the daylong heat. Goku was growing sleepy as well; Super Saiyan 3 took a lot of energy out of him. He powered down to his regular form, then stretched out on the floor.

Despite the dimming light of the cave, his Saiyan sight could still make out Chi-Chi’s slumbering form. He gazed at her tenderly for a few moments, then yawned and closed his eyes. Just a quick nap, and then they’d go home…

***

Chi-Chi awoke to an explosion of thunder. She sat up, disoriented. Where was she?

Everything was dark, cold, and damp. A flash of lightning drew her attention to an opening leading outside. She was in a cave. But how on earth had she gotten there?

Her woozy, heat-addled mind couldn’t make out a thing in the dark, but she was suddenly aware of someone—or some _thing_ lying next to her. The monster—the one she saw before passing out! It kidnapped her, and brought her here to…she shuddered to think of the possibilities.

Goku and Goten. Where were they? Her panic increased. What had that monster done to them? She jumped to her feet so fast it made her head spin, but she shook it off. There was no time to lose.

She ran out the entrance, where she was instantly slapped by gusts of rain and wind. She kept running. Storm or no storm, she was getting out of here!


	2. Chapter 2

Chi-Chi huddled in her dress as she tried in vain to keep dry.  She felt as though she had been running in circles; all the trees were starting to look alike and there wasn’t a way out in sight.  She was so lost that she couldn’t even find her way back to the cave if she wanted to.

Gohan would be home from school soon.  Surely, he’d notice she was missing and try to find her.  Or maybe Goku and Goten were already looking for her.

Unless the monster got them.

No.  She wouldn’t think that way.  Goku never would have let anything happen to her or Goten. 

She looked up at the stormy sky, hoping to see him flying around, but saw nothing. 

She bit her lip, forcing herself to stay strong.  She lived in the woods for years.  She could find some way home.

The clouds began to clear, and the rain slowed to a light drizzle.  Warmth crept back into the air.  Her soaked body sagged in relief.   _Finally._ Now she could at least see where she was going…

Something growled behind her.  Her heart froze.

Apparently, she’d accidentally trodden on wolf territory.  She was face-to-face with a particularly large pack that weren’t happy with her intrusion.  Their yellow eyes glared at her menacingly.

“Oh no…”

***

Sunlight blazed through the mouth of the cave, drawing the two monsters out of their hibernation.  Goku blinked and rubbed his eyes.  “Storm’s over,” he yawned.  “Okay, little monster, it’s time to go…”  He stopped as he noticed the vacant spot between him and Goten.

He peered outside of the cave, Goten at his heels.  “Chi-Chi?” he called out.  There was no answer. He rubbed the back of his head with a rueful chuckle.  “I think our prisoner escaped.”

“But where did she go?” Goten asked, worried.

“Hey, we’re monsters, remember?  We can track her down.”

He put two fingers to his forehead, casting out for her ki.  Sure enough, he quickly located it just a few miles away.  He grimaced inwardly, bracing himself for the scolding he was sure to get once she found them…

Just then, an ear-splitting scream echoed throughout the forest.  Father and son exchanged a fearful look.  Goku grabbed Goten and used instant transmission to get to Chi-Chi’s side.

She stood surrounded by a pack of wolves.  Her hair was a tangled wet mess and her dress torn and caked with mud.  Yet black fire burned in her eyes as she brandished a fallen tree branch at her attackers.  Gone was the sweetly sleeping princess in the cave, she was a warrior ready for a fight. 

She had already beaten two of them into submission.  Another went leaping at her, and she sent it flying back with a hard swing at its snout. 

Goku’s jaw hung slack as he stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Dad!” Goten tugged on his pants, snapping him out of his reverie  “Help her!”

They rushed to her aid, firing ki blasts at wolves.  Frightened by the light and noise, the wolves retreated, abandoning their very unwilling prey for an easier meal.

Chi-Chi dropped her branch and ran straight to her son and husband, flinging her arms around them.  “There you are!  I’ve been so worried!”

“We’re fine,” Goku assured her.  Seeing that she was shivering, he pulled her close and rubbed his hands up and down her back to keep her warm.

“Thank goodness,” she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes. 

“Yeah, Momma, you don’t have to worry,” Goten piped up.  “We’re good monsters, and we saved you!”

“Mmm, very nice, sweetie,” she murmured, barely paying attention.  “You were very brave.”

“See, not all monsters are bad!  Even if we did kidnap you first...”

“Kidnapped me?” Her eyes snapped open.  Her eyes narrowed, taking in Goten’s cheerful face, then Goku’s guiltier one.  The mystery of how she gotten into the cave suddenly became clear.

“Goku.”  Her deceptively sweet tone dripped with steel.  “What.  Did.  You.  _Do_?”

***

“It was just a game,” was Goku’s feeble defense later that night in their bedroom.

“A game?” Chi-Chi furiously raked a brush through her damp hair, scattering the petals that somehow remained in her hair.  “That’s your idea of a game?  The two of you floppin’ me around like a rag doll, and letting me get lost in a storm?!”

“We didn’t  _let_  you get lost,” Goku protested.  “You ran away.”  He grew sullen.  “Because you thought I was a monster.”

 Her anger deflated slightly.  “Oh well…what did you expect?” she blustered.  “You just looked so scary.  All that hair and that face—it isn’t normal!”

“Nice,” he muttered, stung.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” she added hurriedly.

“Do you?”  He looked at her with wounded eyes.  “Do you really think that we’re monsters?”

Softening, she walked over to sit beside him on their bed.  “Of course not,” she whispered, touching his cheek.  “You know I love you no matter what.  It’s just all these crazy forms…I only just got used to you being a Super Saiyan and now this!”

“What’s the big deal?” he asked.  “It’s still me.”

“I know.  But…”  Her gazed at him, her eyes roving from his wild black hair, his sweet face, his muscled body.  “I like you just fine the way you are.  You don’t have to keep changing.”

“It’s only when I fight,” he pointed out.  “It’s not like it’s permanent.”

“True.”  She plucked another stray blossom from her hair.  Regarded it with a tiny smile.  “I guess it wasn’t so bad being kidnapped,” she teased, kissing him on the nose.  “As long as it’s just you and Goten.  Or even just you.”

“Really?”  Goku’s eyes gleamed.  Before she knew it, he’d snatched her up in his arms and was heading towards the open window.

“Goku!” she squealed.  “What’re you doing?”

“Takin’ you back to the cave.”

“For cryin’ out loud…”  She halfheartedly tried to squirm free.  “Oh fine.  Just take a blanket with you.”

“Okay.  Just don’t faint on me this time.” 

“Ha ha…”

He ripped the blanket off the bed and vaulted out the window.  She held on tight and buried her face in his neck.  There was no need to be afraid this time.  She was safe in the arms of her beloved monster.


End file.
